Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to a logic package, logic package drive, logic device, logic module, logic drive, logic disk, logic disk drive, logic solid-state disk, logic solid-state drive, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) logic disk, or FPGA logic drive (to be abbreviated as “logic drive” below, that is when “logic drive” is mentioned below, it means and reads as “logic package, logic package drive, logic device, logic module, logic drive, logic disk, logic disk drive, logic solid-state disk, logic solid-state drive, FPGA logic disk, or FPGA logic drive”) comprising plural FPGA IC chips, and more particularly to a standardized commodity logic drive formed by using plural standardized commodity FPGA IC chips. The logic drive is to be used for different specific applications when field programmed.
Brief Description of the Related Art
The Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) has been used for development of new or innovated applications, or for small volume applications or business demands. When an application or business demand expands to a certain volume and extend to a certain time period, the semiconductor IC suppliers may usually switch to implement the application in an Application Specific IC (ASIC) chip, or a Customer-Owned Tooling (COT) IC chip. The switch from the FPGA design to the ASIC or COT design is because the current FPGA IC chip, for a given application and compared with an ASIC or COT chip, (1) has a larger semiconductor chip size, lower fabrication yield, and higher fabrication cost, (2) consumes more power, (3) gives lower performance. When the semiconductor technology nodes or generations migrates, following the Moore's Law, to advanced nodes or generations (for example below 20 nm), the Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) cost for designing an ASIC or COT chip increases greatly (more than US $5M or even exceeding US $10M, US $20M, US $50M or US $100M). The cost of a photo mask set for an ASIC or COT chip at the 16 nm technology node or generation may be over US $2M, US $5M, or US $10M. The high NRE cost in implementing the innovation or application using the advanced IC technology nodes or generations slows down or even stops the innovation or application using advanced and useful semiconductor technology nodes or generations. A new approach or technology is needed to inspire the continuing innovation and to lower down the barrier for implementing the innovation in the semiconductor IC chips.